Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

Month: January 2014


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Falling Angel: A masterful horror novel

Falling Angel by William Hjortsberg

At one point in William Hjortsberg‘s masterful horror novel, Falling Angel, Epiphany Proudfoot, a 17-year-old voodoo priestess, tells the detective hero Harry Angel, “you sure know a lot about the city.” The city in question is the New York of 1959, and if Angel knows a lot about this crazy burg, then Hjortsberg, in the course of this tale, demonstrates that he knows even more.

While much has been said of this book’s scary elements — its voodoo ceremonies and Black Mass meeting and horrible murders — what impressed me most about this tale is the incredible attention to realistic detail that the author invests it with.


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The Pretenders: A first-rate opening to this YA graphic trilogy

Cemetery Girl: The Pretenders by Charlaine Harris & Christopher Golden

“I’m pretty sure I died. For like, a minute, at least.”

Against a blue and black background, a spidery streak of lightning illuminates the sign, Dunhill Cemetery. In the second frame, a car appears, twin spots of red, the brake lights, gleaming like eyes as a shadowy figure unloads another figure from the trunk and hurls it down a defile. That’s how Cemetery Girl: The Pretenders, by Charlaine Harris and Christopher Golden opens.


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The Resurrectionist: The Lost Work of Dr. Spencer Black

The Resurrectionist: The Lost Work of Dr. Spencer Black by E.B. Hudspeth

The first 65 pages of The Resurrectionist: The Lost Work of Dr. Spencer Black by E.B. Hudspeth is a fascinating “biography” of the titular doctor, a man who believed that the creatures of mythology actually existed at one time and could be reborn into our world with the proper surgical technique. It’s a tragic tale of a medical prodigy who had already completed medical school with high honors at the age of 20. Black was a man of intense curiosity who reveled in dissecting every type of animal,


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Forever Free: Nothing like the original

Forever Free by Joe Haldeman

Joe Haldeman’s 1974 The Forever War and 1997 Forever Peace were huge successes for the author, winning many of science fiction’s most prestigious awards, not to mention garnering him a solid fan base in the process. Though they share similar sounding titles and a military motif, little else between the two novels resembles the other. When it was announced in 1999 that Haldeman would be publishing a true sequel to The Forever War entitled Forever Free,


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Thoughtful Thursday: What we can’t wait to read in 2014

I asked the FanLit reviewers to name one or two 2014 SFF releases that they’re looking forward to reading. As usual, they can’t obey the rules… or maybe it’s just that they’re so excited about 2014 releases that they can’t pick just one. We’d like to hear about the SFF releases that you’re anticipating this year. One random commenter will choose a book from our stacks.

Alix: There are more than a few books coming out in 2014 that I’m excited about. Maybe most of all, I’m excited for Steles of the Sky,


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Alif the Unseen: An embracingly fresh and layered novel

Alif the Unseen by G. Willow Wilson

G. Willow Wilson’s Alif the Unseen is an embracingly fresh and layered novel that has its faults, but remains entertaining and thought provoking throughout. Not to mention timely, as it deals with the idea of revolution and change in the Middle East, a book that is about the Arab Spring despite being written before the Arab Spring actually took place.

Alif the Unseen is set in a nameless “City” in an authoritarian Arab country ruled by an Emir whose security apparatus has long kept the population in check.


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WWWednesday: January 8, 2014

Lists and awards

The days of list-abundance might be finally winding to a close. This week, all I’ve got for you are a couple of upcoming-books-in-January lists. First, My Bookish Ways has their SFF and YA list up. Kirkus Reviews also has a list of upcoming releases, including commentary and summaries. I’m especially intrigued by Jo Walton’s collected reviews in What Makes this Book So Great, and Chang-Rae Lee’s On Such a Full Sea. Lastly,


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A Dance of Cloaks: Strong plotting

A Dance of Cloaks by David Dalglish

Thren Felhorn is the master of the Spider Guild, the supreme collective under which Thren has united all the thieves’ guilds in the city of Veldaren. In the prologue of A Dance of Cloaks, author David Dalglish has given Thren two sons, Randith and Aaron, and placed the guilds on the brink of war with the Trifect, three wealthy families that wield most of the political power in a land where the king is young, foolish and easily manipulated.


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Lost Covenant: Widdershins the thief’s third outing is a dizzying adventure

Lost Covenant by Ari Marmell

Note to self; Get the first two books in Ari Marmell’s WIDDERSHINS series, so that I am current on this fascinating character. If Lost Covenant is representative of this series, I’ll be in for a great time.

Widdershins is a young, snarky female thief from the city of Davillon. She is unusually skilled, not only at climbing, running and skulking, but also swordplay and even firing flintlocks. Widdershins has a bit of an edge over other humans,


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Bill catches up with David Walton

David Walton is the author of Quintessence (which I gave a 4.5 last year) and its recent sequel Quintessence Sky (3.5), along with Terminal Mind, which won the 2008 Philip K. Dick Award for best paperback science-fiction novel that year. David recently took some time out amidst all the hectic holiday activity to answer some questions and let us know what he is currently working on, (including I was glad to learn, a third book in the QUINTESSENCE series). More information can also be found at his website.


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Next SFF Author: Ben Aaronovitch

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